Italy Food

Italy has an endless variety of cuisines that occupies a revered place as one of the world's great cuisines. The main characteristic of Italian cooking is its healthy balance, the excellent basic ingredients being simply cooked and retaining their original goodness and freshness. Simple and yet with such a variety of flavors and rich inventiveness in preparation, that even the most demanding gourmet is delighted.

Italian breakfast is rather different from American or English. Colazione is usually light: cappuccino (coffee and milk) and a brioche (sweet pastry), or simply espresso (black-short-strong coffee).

Pranzo (lunch) is the big meal except in the industrialized cities. It consists of antipasto (starter), a primo piatto (pasta, rice or soup), a secondo piatto (meat or fish) with contorno (vegetable or salad), then frutta (fresh fruit). Finish with espresso and maybe a grappa or amaro (strong digestive liqueur).

Cena (dinner) is similar to lunch. Nowadays there is a tendency of having a light lunch then dinner becomes the major meal. Gelato (ice-cream) has hundreds of different flavors and can be enjoyed at anytime of the day as well as the granita (crushed ice with flavored syrup).

Italy has thousands of ristoranti (restaurants), the most formal type of place to eat when one is not in a hurry, sometimes a little fancy and pricy and family-run. Trattoria and osteria are less formal than a ristorante, where local specialties are served. Panineria is a sandwich bar, where a quick meal can be had at any time of the day. Pizzeria is not only for pizza lovers.